AHL: Adirondack falls to Albany, 2-1

ALBANY - In a matter of seconds Saturday, the Adirondack Phantoms went from thinking they had snapped a third-period tie to watching their rivals rush down the ice and do it themselves.

Matt Anderson capped off a 3-on-1 rush with the go-ahead goal early in the final frame and the Albany Devils handed the Phantoms a 2-1 loss at Times Union Center.

The game-winning goal came 14 seconds after Albany goaltender Jeff Frazee went post-to-post to make a spectacular kick save on Phantoms' winger Tye McGinn's one-timer off a cross-ice pass.

"We definitely thought it went in," said Phantoms winger Eric Wellwood, who had Adirondack's lone goal late in the second period. Instead, the Devils collected the rebound and advanced the puck to Anderson, who slipped a shot just inside the post and past Phantoms goaltender Scott Munroe (29 saves) at 3:41.

Advertisement

"It seems to happen that way in hockey," said Wellwood, whose team fell to 5-6 on the season. "Somebody gets a good chance and then the other team goes down and scores. It's the nature of the game. We still had time to come back and win, but unfortunately we didn't."

The Phantoms also had plenty of chances to take the lead earlier in the game, but Frazee stymied all but one of their 23 shots as the Devils improved to 3-5-0-2. The fifth-year pro has quietly posted a 1.48 goals-against average in four appearances for an underachieving Albany team that has scored only 18 goals in 10 games.

"We had a lot of missed opportunities," Wellwood said. "I think scoring one goal - that doesn't reflect how many Grade A chances that we had. I think we could have had four or five. Frazee was pretty good in net tonight and it's unfortunate we didn't capitalize on our great chances."

Two of Adirondack's best came some 90 seconds apart in the second period, when defensemen Brandon Manning and Marc-Andre Bourdon were both sprung on rushes after they finished serving back-to-back roughing penalties.

Frazee turned Manning's attempt aside with his pad about 10:55 into the frame and Bourdon fired a cross-ice pass to a wide-open Harry Zolnierczyk, who hit the side of the net at 12:25.

The Phantoms killed off all seven of Albany's power play attempts -- including a five-on-three -- as the Devils fell to a dismal 2-for-47 with the man advantage on the season.But Adirondack failed to convert on nearly 90 seconds of its own five-on-three time that began late in the second period and carried over into the third.

The Phantoms finished 0-for-7 with the man advantage and fell to 0-6 when they do not score a power play goal.

Phantoms coach Terry Murray called his team's five-on-three "a critical turning point of the game."

"We didn't get it set up," he said. "We didn't have the offensive zone time to get anything going to generate any shots on net, even. To me, that's a missed opportunity and it's a golden opportunity."

After playing more than 33 minutes of scoreless hockey to start the game, the teams traded even-strength goals in a four-minute span in the second period.

Bobby Butler struck first for Albany, firing a shot over Munroe's shoulder at 13:44. Wellwood responded at 17:37, skating from behind the net and wristing a shot that deflected off Frazee's glove and trickled over the goal line.

The goal was somewhat similar to Anderson's, in that both players found a small opening inside the near post and forced a puck past the opposing goalies. But the timing of Anderson's goal was particularly deflating for Adirondack, in that it came shortly after both the five-on-three and McGinn's near-miss.

"I thought we did a pretty good job reloading, getting back," Zolnierczyk said. "It's just frustrating."